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18 October 2024 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied
Prof-Maryke-Labuschagne
Prof Maryke Labuschagne is a Professor of Plant Breeding in the UFS Department of Plant Sciences.

A new research chair at the University of the Free State (UFS), led by Prof Maryke Labuschagne, a Professor of Plant Breeding in the UFS Department of Plant Sciences, hopes to increase food and nutritional security in South Africa through crops that have intrinsic high nutritional value.

The Breeding Climate-Resilient Vegetables and Grains research chair was established in partnership with the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD). It will be hosted within the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (NAS) alongside the other ARC-DALLRD-UFS research chairs, namely Climate Change and Agriculture, Innovative Agro-processing for Climate-smart Food System, Agriculture Risk Financing and Sustainable Livestock Production. 

The aim of the new ARC-DALLRD-UFS research chair, explains Prof Labuschagne, who is also leading the National Research Foundation (NRF) SARChI Chair in Diseases and Quality of Field Crops, is to breed climate resilient crops with high levels of nutrients such as iron, zinc, provitamin A and essential amino acids, as well as disease resistance, in collaboration with the ARC.

Breeding of climate resilient crops

“We are all aware of the need for food security in South Africa. Climate change is already negatively impacting food production. With this research chair, in collaboration with the ARC, we hope to increase food security through crops that have intrinsic high nutritional value, for example, high levels of iron and zinc and provitamin A, of which there are high levels of deficiency in our population, and at the same time increase climate resilience (such as heat and drought tolerance) in these crops.

“We will be working on breeding climate-resilient, nutrient-rich and disease-resistant pigeon pea and cowpea cultivars; maize rich in provitamin A, iron and zinc; highly nutritious sweet and bitter sorghum; rust-resistant and good-quality wheat; high-yielding and nutritious indigenous vegetables such as amaranth and amadumbi; and research on potato, sweet potato and cassava for human and industrial uses,” says Prof Labuschagne.

The new chair will complement the research that is already being done for the SARChI chair, but with the ARC as partner. It will combine the expertise and resources of Plant Breeding at the UFS with that of the ARC-VIMP (Vegetable, Industrial and Medicinal Plants), ARC-GC (Grain Crops) and ARC-SC (Small Grains). The chair research will include orphan crops such as cowpea, pigeon pea and indigenous vegetables, as well as root and tuber crops such as potato and cassava, and cereals such as wheat, maize and sorghum.

Collaborative research

“The focus of this chair is on collaborative research and student training with the ARC, but the research area will still focus on the development of nutrient-rich and disease-resistant food-security crops. It will also have an additional focus of climate resilience, and the inclusion of orphan crops indigenous to Africa and South Africa.”

Prof Labuschagne says it is exciting that collaborative research can now be done with the unique expertise and resources (laboratory equipment, fields, greenhouses etc.) of several research institutes for the benefit of food and nutritional security in South Africa. Doing this research in a large team with lots of expertise in different areas will certainly yield more and better results with a larger impact on food security.

“This is a very exciting development in agricultural research now that we are part of a large team all working towards the same goal of improving food security, sharing expertise and resources and also doing collaborative training of MSc and PhD students who will become the scientists of tomorrow, taking this quest into the future.”

Prof Vasu Reddy, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation, says this chair is aligned to the UFS Vision 130 strategy, shaped by excellence and impact, sustainability and society. “This distinguished chair led by Prof Labuschagne recognises exceptional achievement and pre-eminence in the field to catalyse and ignite new talent and new knowledge. It marks an exciting opportunity to deepen our understanding of breeding climate-resilient vegetables and grains aligned to our expertise in agriculture.”

News Archive

Business Management students scoop Tata Africa Scholarship awards
2016-12-09

Description: Tata Africa Tags: Tata Africa 

From left: Mr Harneet Luther, Nomcebo Langa
(first-place winner), Palesa Makhetha and Dr Johan van Zyl.

Tata Africa celebrated the class of 2016 of the Department of Business Management at the University of the Free State (UFS) on 1 December 2016 on the Bloemfontein Campus. As part of the company’s Postgraduate Scholarship Programme, 11 academically and financially deserving students will have their postgraduate studies sponsored in 2017.

The scholarship programme was initiated by the Department of Business Management in 2012, in collaboration with Tata Africa. The aim is to provide final-year Strategic Marketing students an opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge by developing practical marketing strategies for any one of the Tata Group companies operating in Africa.

Students were invited to present their ideas to a panel of UFS and Tata Africa representatives, who selected the category winners. The categories were for the Tata Bakkies, Jaguar vehicles, Tata Chemicals in Magadi, Kenya, and Land Rover vehicles, intended to enhance the business’ competitive edge. The top three winners were Nomcebo Langa, Internal Marketing; Johan Nel, #OutPaceThis campaign; and Jesse Heath, Entrepreneurial Development campaign.

Topics covered by the students include target market identification, development of practical marketing strategies (digital and traditional), service strategies, experiential campaigns and application design.  The Executive Director of Tata Africa Holdings, Mr Len Brand, said, “In the course of change in Africa and South Africa, in particular, we are very honoured to inspire young minds to bring innovative marketing solutions to the Tata business. We hope that their creativity will also inspire innovations in business, government, and civil society that will ultimately sell South Africa and Africa as good investment destinations.”  

Dr Johan van Zyl from the Centre for Development Support congratulated the winners and encouraged them to continue on the path of augmenting creativity in business. In presenting the awards, Executive Director of Tata Automobile Corporation SA, Mr Harneet Luther, spoke of the origins of the Tata company, its vision and the level of innovation that its founders had, which was necessary in propelling it to where it is today. He commended the students for their outstanding performance and innovative campaigns. Since 2006, over 250 scholarships have been awarded through the University of the Free State, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Wits University.

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